WORLD OF RAWR

So I headed to Fort Lauderdale during what had to be the rainiest weekend of the year; I was there for four days and it rained for all four of them.

The preface to this affair was being invited by one certain BrawlMart for a bit. I was hesitant, but Brawl is persistent and persuasive and I booked a trip to head down. That part went without much incident and I arrived early. He arrived a couple of hours later and from there we went to dinner to talk about the upcoming event.

From there, we checked into the hotel and that passed our Thursday.

THE FACTS

Friday was a quiet day of waiting for this person or that to arrive out of those who were slated to attend. I got to see Dean and Tom Friday evening who, along with Brawl and I, went to a movie to pass the evening until | JJ arrived.

I went to chill with JJ - who I had been looking forward to meeting for quiet some time - for the evening and chatted things up a bit. That passed Friday evening into Saturday where I milled about catching up on Pokemon until about 2PM. From there, I had my first match of the fest with Chuck. It was intense and entertaining and fun. You can read about that match in the recommends section.

From there, I got some dinner with JJ and then took a nap. I ended the evening with a trip to the hot tub and then more sleep. This passed into Sunday where things were on the quiet side for most of the day until that evening where, as a last hurrah, I got to wrestle with this guy who drove for hours to hang out with us for the day. I'll write my recommends on that later, but it was a notable first time that I got to teach someone something. It felt good to be on that end of things.

THE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS

If I had made this trip purely for wrestling, I think I would have been a bit put out considering. However, the people I did get to meet made it worth the trip in the end. I got to see things and learn about the city and got some perspective I wouldn't get just hanging about in my hometown.

That was interesting. I need to get out more.

The people I got to wrestle with were cool. I also got wrestling gear, so that was nice. I have been asked to post pictures, so be on the lookout.

On the other hand, because of weather, when there wasn't wrestling going on, there was nothing else to do.

But then there was this one guy who hit on me at random. There was a lot I learned about things that seem to be specific to gay people. That was eye-opening. I know some pretty cool places to stay for mostly reasonable prices in Fort Lauderdale should I visit there. Although truth be told, I'll be in Key West on my next trip (go ahead and book now).

I think the thing I was the most blah about was the amount of people that didn't show up and why. As an example, on a day of torrential downpour, I was informed that my potential match for the day got tickets to a football game and would be unable to make it. I chuckled and played pokemon on the way to a diner.

I couldn't begin to imagine the frustrations that an organizer of this sort of thing has to go through just to get people to appear, so my condolences, I guess.

The thing I was most happy about was, again, meeting everyone. Especially JJ. He's a sweetheart. Chuck was amazing and, thanks to him, I have a ton of visitors and people I'm talking to about future matches. He was great. Cub was cool. Brawl is eccentric and funny and kind and sharply sarcastic all at once. Great sense of humor.

Would I do this again? Likely, but I'd make more plans for side things to do in between, too.

With that, December is around the bend and with it comes a few trips I'm ready to plan. Between now and then, let's hope something fun happens. In fact, I do believe I see a message in my inbox...

o/